T-Pain went into depression after Usher said he ‘f**ked up music’ with Auto-Tune
"I'm like, 'But I used it. I didn’t tell everybody else to start using it,'" T-Pain said he told Usher in their talk
Social media lit up after a scene from the upcoming Netflix series This Is Pop was released on Monday. In the brief snippet, rapper T-Pain revealed that he fell into a four-year depression after singer Usher told him he “f–ked up music.”
In the clip, the Florida native said he was on a flight to the BET Awards, and Usher was on the same flight. He said the singer called him over and told him, “I’m gonna tell you something, man. You kinda f–ked up music.”
He said he initially thought the veteran vocalist was joking, but T-Pain recalled Usher saying, “Yeah, man, you really f–ked up music for real singers.”
“I was like, ‘What did I do? I came out and I used Auto-Tune,’” said T-Pain. “He was like, ‘Yeah, you f–ked it up.’ I’m like, ‘But I used it. I didn’t tell everybody else to start using it.’”
He didn’t realize it at the time, but that moment sparked his lengthy depression, the rapper revealed.
“That is the very moment — and I don’t even think I realized this for a long time — but that’s the very moment that started a four-year depression for me,” he said.
The hitmaker’s name is still trending on Twitter.
Andrew Barber of Fakeshore Drive wrote, “the music business owes T-Pain an apology.” One fan replied, “No it doesn’t. He’s a legend because he disrupted the industry, it’s part of his journey. His fans are giving him his flowers and that’s what matters. ‘Ridicule is the tribute paid to the genius…’-Oscar Wilde.”
Journalist Shenequa Golding tweeted her theory on the situation, writing, “I also think the fact that Pain, a Black man, was having fun, dancing, cracking jokes, being seen smiling and exuding happiness annoyed the hip-hop and R&B purists. His visible joy didn’t line up with the perceived definition of stoic masculinity and that could’ve bothered some.”
Usher hasn’t responded to the comments as of press time. He is set to start his Las Vegas residency on Saturday, July 17 at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.
T-Pain’s interview on This Is Pop premiered on Netflix on Tuesday.
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